Rumor: Nintendo Eying Smartphone Devs To Bring Games To Wii U

The Wii U hasn't been the sales phenomenon that Nintendo was expecting when it was first announced. Nintendo cut sales projections by 1.5 million units at the start of 2013, and the company's most recent financial disclosures revealed that sales failed to meet the revised mark as well. Now there are rumors that Nintendo is turning to an unlikely market to help change course – mobile gaming.

According to sources at the Japan Times, Nintendo is in the process of creating conversion tools that would allow developers to bring their smartphone and tablet games to the Wii U.

It should be noted that the Wii U uses a different touchscreen technology from the majority of tablet devices, which could prove problematic. The Wii U's resistive screen doesn't support multitouch input, for example, so a game like Hundreds wouldn't be technically feasible on the GamePad.

Will the ability to play mobile games on a large screen be the secret ingredient Nintendo is missing? The folks at Ouya certainly think there's enough of a market for it.